Following the successful release of her first book My Daddy Is A Soldier in November 2008 and with public pressure from serving female soldiers, author Gerry Waters has filled a much-needed gap with My Mummy Is A Soldier, which is on sale now.

Gerry Waters is an Army person to the core. Brought up in an Army family, predominately in Germany, she married a soldier, as did her daughter Tana.

Having always lived within the military community she accepted the deployments of first her father and then her husband. But when her granddaughter Shay started to ask questions about where her daddy was - during his tour of Afghanistan - Gerry started to ask herself if she was able to do anything to help young children deal with the difficulty of separation that is inevitable within a military family.

Mummy soldiers

Her original picture book for her granddaughter Shay and the younger children of the Army community showed simply that although daddy was going away and would be away for a while, he would come back again.

It has been an outstanding hit. "I can't believe how well the book has been received both within our military environment and in the civilian world," says Gerry.

"It's been amazing. The feedback has been incredible and has prompted me to put together the My Mummy book.

"I can count on one hand the welfare books available specifically for our community and am as yet unaware of any exclusively for mummy soldiers. I also wanted to redress the fact that female soldiers as the minority often feel they are over looked"

Easy to read

This latest book in the series follows the same easy-to-read and photographic template of the My Daddy book. It tells you the story of her mother who is deployed on operations with the British Army. 

The photographs focus on Sgt Bex Coates and her three-year-old daughter Jessica who are stationed in Cyprus. The pictures are well composed with a military flavour and are recognizable to readers young and old alike making the book a joy for all ages to read.

The Afghan Appeal Fund will yet again benefit from the sales of the new book.

Magic formula

President of the Afghan Appeal Fund Lady Caroline Richards, wife of General Sir David Richards Chief of the General Staff says, "Following on the heels of the very popular book MDIAS comes MMIAS.

"Gerry Waters has once again found that magic formula of humour in face of the difficulties encountered by small children when their parents deploy.

"It helps them to come to terms with a situation beyond their comprehension - and gives them the comfort and reassurance in seeing that an absent loved one will always return - despite some tears in the short term."